Plastically deformable ears of the type which have become known as "Oetiker" ears have been used heretofore with great success in a variety of clamp structures. Among these clamp structures, one must differentiate between so-called endless clamp structures and open clamp structures which can be closed when installed about the object to be fastened. While the former permit only an axial installment, the latter permit axial as well as radial installment. My prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,614,304 and 3,082,498 are representative of the former type of clamps while my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,465,793; 3,523,337 and 3,510,918 are representative of the latter type. Additionally, known in the prior art are hose clamps with so-called screw-type tightening devices in which the band ends are drawn together by rotating a screw. However, all of these aforementioned types of clamps entail the drawback that they include outwardly projecting parts that in certain applications preclude use of such types of clamps.
More specifically, clamps used with axle boots in the automotive industry, in certain applications, must be devoid of any projecting parts because of space requirements. As a result thereof, closed copper rings were used heretofore in the automotive industry which were shrunk onto the axle boots by the use of "Magnaform" machines. Apart from the high capital expenditures for the machinery necessary to perform the magnetic shrinking operation on metal rings, such as steel or copper rings, this approach inherently involves certain limitations since the copper rings can be installed only axially. Moreover, for service operations, it is necessary, in case the copper ring is still intact, to destruct the copper ring to gain access to the space underneath the axle boot which would then require the axial installation of a new copper ring to be shrunk over the axle boot. Since the machines necessary for shrinking the copper rings over the axle boots are normally not available at the service organization of a retail dealer in view of the high costs connected therewith, it has been common practice to stock preassembled axle parts with copper rings already shrunk onto the axle boots for exchange with corresponding parts in a vehicle requiring service. This complicated and costly approach in servicing axles with axle boots secured by shrunk copper rings was thus also due to the lack of re-useability of the copper ring.